Abstract:

The mobile software industry is evolving rapidly. Comprehensive research on the topic is, however, sparse. Although research on the pre-app store era mobile industry is abundant, the emergence of app stores has dramatically changed the business dynamics of the industry. This has led to a situation in which the existing research for large parts fails to adequately explain the current reality of the global mobile software industry.

This thesis has two goals. The first goal is to fill the gaps in the literature by giving a comprehensive and systematic overview of the current global mobile software industry and the ecosystem around it. The overview covers the history of the mobile software industry, common business models, and the most important actors in the ecosystem and their relationships.

The second goal is to discover the growth challenges faced by Finnish mobile software companies. The challenges are studied by applying a multimethod research design combining a quantitative software industry survey performed in 2013 and a case study consisting of qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in 2014. The interviews were conducted on CEOs of several mobile software companies that took part in the survey.

Results indicate that many mobile software companies are experiencing major difficulties with app stores. Particularly Google Play is considered challenging. The lack of sales and marketing expertise in the companies is also considered a major problem.

Three policy recommendations were identified: (1) Educational institutions should consider providing sales and marketing courses targeted at CEOs. They should also consider organizing courses for full-time employed engineers who are in need of gaining new competences; (2) The governmental funding agencies should assess their competences on dealing with funding of mobile software companies, and develop their competences if needed; (3) The bureaucracy required of MSW-companies and companies in general should be reduced. The amount of forms required to be submitted to various officials regarding taxes, funding, and such should be minimized.Mobiiliohjelmistoala kasvaa huimaa vauhtia. Kattava alaa koskeva tutkimus on kuitenkin vielä erittäin vähäistä. Sovelluskauppoja edeltävältä ajalta on runsaasti tutkimusta, mutta sovelluskauppojen ilmestyminen on kuitenkin merkittävällä tavalla muuttanut alan liiketoimintadynamiikkaa siten että aikaisempi tutkimus ei kykene tyydyttävällä tavalla selittämään tämänhetkistä mobiiliohjelmistoalaa.